Marginal Christianity

"The cross is not something historically fortuitous which might not have happened. God himself is nothing other than love. Consequently Golgotha is the inescapable revelation of his nature in a world of evil and suffering." ( The Trinity and the Kingdom ) Do you ever wonder what life will be like then and there and how different it will be from the here and now? I do. And what I’ve come to realize Moltmann captures in this quote. It’s this: “in a world of evil and suffering.” What will be different then and there is not how we will act and behave or what we will be expected to do. Everything required of us here and now will be required then and there. -loving still means serving others -their interests remain more important than our own -“dominion” over the creation (Gen.1:26-28) remains “tilling and keeping“ (or “protecting and serving”) it (Gen.2:15) -“glory” means “fastening our belts, bidding those other and less than us to sit down to eat,...

Christians should have the freedom not to support what they think is sinful. However they are called to serve sinners and service need not be seen as affirmation. Serving others is an act of good witness. The public sphere is not the church. The fight for political rights are not the same as Christian witness. They overlap some, but they are not the same. Christians would be wise to remember that. The public sphere is a place where not all agree, and it is the job of the government to regulate relationships to promote common good and common well-being. Would a Christian want an atheist business to refuse promotions under the notion that they can’t promote someone they thing is deluded? How would a church feel if a company refused to sell them communion cups? Or an atheist government clerk refusing to send charitable status paperwork or ordination papers out of their defiled conscience? In a world exploding with differences, Christians can have a faithful political witness by m...